Welcome to SCCPA

Founded in 1965, SCCPA is comprised of licensed psychologists, registered psychological assistants, graduate psychology students, and other professionals affiliated with the mental health field. We are the third largest of 23 chapters of the California Psychological Association (CPA), which is a state chapter of the American Psychological Association (APA).

SCCPA is dedicated to advancing the science and profession of psychology; promoting the ethical, responsible, and effective practice of psychology; providing education, networking, and support among psychologists; and offering our diverse community an array of educational and mental health services.

Last time, in the spring newsletter, we talked about those powerful predispositions to react

automatically that we see in many of the couples who come for therapy. I suggested then that many of the clients we see in couple therapy were subjected to early trauma, abuse, or neglect and learned to protect themselves any way their nervous systems could figure out (Sapolsky, 2017).

Thru the lens of neuroscience, I speculated that many of the defenses they have learned are governed not by thought or decision (higher cortical centers in the brain) but by more primitive brain regions like the autonomic nervous system (ANS) with its powerful propensity for “fight or flight.” And, if the trauma was severe enough, even more primitive brain areas (dorsal vagal aspect of the parasympathetic PNS) flashed on and they learned to freeze or collapse as the “escape where there is no escape” (Putman, 1997).

The problem

Dysregulated reactivity, the lack of neural integration, causes suffering, disrupts the ability to communicate, erodes, and can eventually destroy the closeness of our most intimate bonds. It is this kind of blind reactivity we need to help our clients interrupt.

These tendencies of striking out or closing down are not foreign to us as therapists. Many of us have survived abuse and know intimately the reactivity and suffering that is its legacy. We’ve all experienced being bounced around inside our most intimate relationships, including those formed during psychotherapy. We all have the capacity for anger and defensiveness; we’ve all experienced the urge to flee. And so, it is this same reactivity we need to work on in ourselves, as we temporarily join their system, in an attempt to alter it from the inside out.

The habit of blame: how we shift the responsibility to the “other” to control what we cannot control in ourselves

Just as couples blame one another for their relational pain and thus their own reactivity (“I wouldn’t yell at you if you’d listen to me when I spoke calmly,” or “You got angry first; I was only defending myself”) we too may have felt like victims in our own families (“the problem must be their fault; I don’t react like that with anyone else.”) We can meet these couples with initial enthusiasm and then find ourselves blaming them or fantasizing flight (who can I refer them to) when long- held patterns don’t abate.

Thus, the first step toward healing is focus on oneself

Healing begins for couples with the willingness to focus, each on themselves as the target of healing work. To approach therapy sessions as a place to learn skills to manage the energy that arises in their own physiology instead of seeing its origin somewhere outside themselves. Some couples master this quickly; others stay stuck in blaming for months (or occasionally for years). Couples therapy will either fail or end in the dissolution of the marriage (or at least in the hope for real intimacy) when individuals cannot master this most pivotal of steps.

The next step toward healing is the ability to self- regulateThe antidote, we said, is emotional regulation, the capacity to either calm body energy down or to amplify it when it has fallen too low (as in depression and dissociation). This regulatory capacity requires the integration of arousal centers (amygdala) with energy- regulating ones (MPFC) until they function in a smooth and coordinated way, allowing us to cope with fear and hurt without striking out or closing down.

Because co-regulation is more powerful that self- regulation, the eventual goal is for the couple to learn to function as a regulatory team, balancing each other's primitive brains. But first at least one members of the couple has to learn to pause, and in that instant of suspended reactivity, to find an internal reflecting capacity, a space outside their arousal (the same higher centers that self-observe also regulate) to calm or

soothe first themselves, and then the more primitive centers in their partner’s brain, allowing their attachment system to re-engage (Johnson, 2004).

Another step toward healing is to speak for our own needs and vulnerabilitiesOnce calm and in touch with their own younger selves, people can learn to speak for instead of from these parts that are needy, vulnerable, longing, or afraid in a way that their partner can hear and that make it sufficiently safe for each to drop their guard of anger, blame, or flight. Once our couples have found ways to soothe and heal their own inner pain, they can respond with tenderness and openness to their partner’s suffering. From this place, true negotiations can open up solutions neither of them could discover on their own (Herbine-Blank, 2016).

And because we, as therapists, must master our own self-regulatory skills, in the October SCCPA CE workshop, we’ll look not only at teaching couples skills for affect regulation, but also at the challenge of remaining connected, warm, hopeful, and engaged in the mist of chaos, pain, desperation, and sometimes wildly swinging affect that challenges our ability to

manage the session and to shift the focus to places where healing can occur.

One way we master these capacities is in the privacy of our own personal therapy. We also help one another in consultation settings and in training workshops where we find understanding and empathy, and where we share with one another what we have learned. Come to the workshop in October, and let’s do some sharing of our own.

Putnam, E.W. (1997). Dissociation in children and adolescents: A developmental perspective. New York: Guilford Press.

Sapolsky, R. (2017). Behave: the biology of humans

our best and worst. New York

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

New Member Incentives & Member Specials

The SCCPA Board and particularly our Membership Director, Dr. Beverly Floresca, would like to announce a whole slew of new membership incentives and specials (see below). We know that you, as members, love SCCPA. We would like to spread the love this year to as many psychologists and mental health professionals as possible this year. We are a social activism engine this year, standing up for the rights of humans in Santa Clara County and beyond. We love the enthusiasm we are receiving and the participation level of members who want to be involved in myriad ways such as:

Marching in protest marches that align with our values of protecting human rights and the psychological welfare of all.

Volunteering to provide pro-bono therapy to Spanish speakers

Volunteering to provide pro-bono therapy to veterans, victims of the recent shootings, fires and other traumatic events

Participating in phone banks

Volunteering to be part of expert panels on gun violence and mental illness

Interfacing with community agencies that provide help to targeted individuals and groups

And on and on…

Of course, not everyone is into the social activism aspect. Here are some of the member benefits you love the most:

Our professional CE workshops-keeping us up to date and tuned in to what is in the spotlight in the profession of psychology

Our myriad of social events and networking events to meet and interact with colleagues

The chance to be part of our many professional committees

Our top-notch newsletter-The opportunity to read and contribute our written articles and other works.

Fill in your personal favorite that I am forgetting

SCCPA is a thriving community! If you would like to encourage your colleagues to join us, here are some great membership offers:

MEMBER TO MEMBER SPECIAL:

Any SCCPA member who refers someone to be a new member to SCCPA will get $100 off the SCCPA workshop of their choice. For this special, enter Workshop100

The new member you refer will get half off of the membership fee for the first year of their membership, enter NewMem2018

STUDENTS ROCK SPECIAL:

New student members can join SCCPA for free if they join a SCCPA Committee. Have them use StudentsROCK as the promo code when they register.

NON-PROFIT AGENCY SPECIAL:

Anyone that works for a Non-Profit serving the Santa Clara County community who has never been a member of SCCPA before can join for half price for the first year. Use AGENCY50 as the promo code. This includes all levels of membership.

FULL MEMBER: Holder of a doctorate in psychology or an equivalent degree, or a psychologist licensed to practice in California. Full Members have all rights and privileges of SCCPA membership including the right to vote and serve on the Board of Directors. Note that Board positions also require CPA membership because SCCPA is a chapter of CPA. Full members may be eligible to have their profile included in the publicly searchable Find a Psychologist web site feature. Annual fee: $175. For any psychologist staff member of your agency they can now join for $87.50.

NEW DOCTORATE MEMBER: Holder of a doctorate in psychology granted three years or less prior to membership. New Doctorate Members enjoy the same rights and privileges as Full Members at a reduced membership fee. New Doctorate members may be eligible for their profile to be included in the publicly searchable Find a Psychologist web site feature. Annual fee: $95. Currently your staff member can join for the ultra-low first year cost of $47.50

ASSOCIATE MEMBER: Holder of a master’s degree in a mental health discipline (e.g., LMFT, LCSW, LPC, etc.) or a related degree (e.g., MD, JD, etc.). Associate Members have all rights and privileges of SCCPA membership except the right to vote or serve on the Board. Associate members are not eligible to have their profile included in the publicly searchable Find a Psychologist web site feature. Annual fee: $100. Currently your staff member can join for $50.00

Local Advocacy Network

With most of the attention focused on national news and politics, important CA ballot initiatives such as bond financing for housing, water and children’s hospitals, property tax savings for homeowners over 55, controversial gas tax hike repeal and a way to expand rent control may not receive the coverage they deserve. Read the details of Prop1 –Prop12 at http://capitolweekly.net/ballot-props-whats-stake/

1.Politics/upcoming Elections: And now looking at the big picture read about

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